CookieMonster, on 08 June 2012 - 04:01 AM, said:
as for the beta..well there are thousands of people who consider themselves 'perfect candidates' for it. noone knows what criteria they're using to pick beta players, only that every so often they drop another 500 keys out there :-) In a perfect world, their pool of beta players would be a very broad sampling of players, so its probably best if they did it completely randomly. Kind of like political polling..to get the best results you dont focus on one type of person, you a diverse cross-section. That way things are found that may not have been with only one group of 'designers' or 'sys admins' might have found.
lol 'perfect' beta candidates... first batch of keys, as I understand it, went largely to people unfamiliar with Battletech. It seems they wanted to see what people would do, not knowing the specifics of the BT universe. Later batches (and maybe even past ones) will see more experienced users I'm sure.
GHQCommander, on 08 June 2012 - 05:14 AM, said:
There will probably be items that give very slight increase in abilities. There has to be something for the players with money else it get very boring. Items that offer unique builds, rather than increased ability but more precise style is always in demand.
No one can demand they do not put things in the games store that don't offer a tiny bit extra. That is not really pay to win, players using store items can still be beaten. I think TRUE pay to win are those games like Battlestar Galactica Online where players can upgrade everything multiple times using money.
I think the gaming community is over sensitive to the whole pay to win thing and applying the label to any game that sells items. Star Trek Online has some nice ship consoles, plenty players call it pay to win but its rubbish. Put 10 of the c-store consoles on one ship and that ship will not stand a chance in PvP. The purpose of the consoles is to perfect a specific build, get a little more out of an entire Starship and speccing. So yes there is a slight bonus and improvement in ability but the player needs to know what they are doing plus perfect the build.
i hope that made sense.
If an item is only available in the store and that item affects gameplay, it is arguably pay-to-win. You can't really argue against that. A lot of people don't mind spending money, but they don't want to feel like they HAVE to spend it to remain competitive (WoT clan wars: gold rounds).
I would love a "premium" type thing for more c-bills/pilot exp per battle, and I wouldn't mind grabbing decals/camos, but I'd feel quite dishonest buying $-store-only weapons/ammo/engines/whatever that directly affects gameplay.